Well, this is awkward.

"Two gay men living in Paris developed monkeypox symptoms at the start of June and went to a hospital, where their lesions were identified as being caused by the disease," reports the Telegraph.

"The non-exclusive couple, aged 44 and 27-years-old, developed sore lesions in their anal region as well as over the rest of their body a week after having sex with other men."

12 days after the couple reported to hospital suffering symptoms of monkeypox, their four-year-old male Italian greyhound was found to have also developed lesions and pustules on the stomach.

Media reports about the issue suggested the infection happened merely as a result of the dog being in close proximity to the infected couple and didn't dwell on the fact that the dog was also suffering from "anal ulceration."

In other words, in all probability, knowing they were infected with monkeypox, the gay couple had engaged in anal sex with their own dog.

Lovely stuff.

"A PCR test revealed the dog had monkeypox, and genetic sequencing found it was a 100 per cent match to the strain that infected his owners, indicating the dog caught the virus from his owners."

As we previously highlighted, the spread of monkeypox is almost entirely down to gay men having sex with each other, with early outbreaks being traced back to a gay sauna in Spain and a fetish festival in Belgium.

Earlier this month, infectious disease experts in Sweden criticized the country's gay pride parade organizers for failing to provide any information on monkeypox ahead of a march that they warn could be a 'super spreader' event.